
jLTxoisr , 






DELIVERED BY 



I 



ISr^THi^LNIEIL SMITH, Esq., 



I) 

I 



AT 



WOODBURY, CONN., 



ON THE 



(\ 



DPOXJH.TH: oi» arxTij-K-, ises 




A.Tsr 



oi^ j^Tioisr, 



DELIVERED BY 



N^TH^NIEL SIMITH, Esq., 



AT 



WOODBURY, CONN. 



ON THE 



DP'OTDTtTI^ OI* 3"TTIj''Sr, XOOS. 



Press or J. Giles, Waterbury. 



.Wsr 



^^14:1- 



Woodbury, July 5th, 1865 

Nathaniel Smith, Esq., 

Dear Sir — We were so highly gratified with your Oration delivered on Indepen- 
dence Day at the North Church, that we are constrained hereby to ask you to furnish 
a copy for publication, that we may not only further enjoy it ourselves, but present 
it more widely to the public. , 

Very respectfoUy, 

JOHN CHURCHILL, 
ROBERT PECK, 
JOSEPH POLLMAN, 
JOSEPH F. WALKER, 
W. A. STRONG, 
JOHN ABERNETHY, 
HENRY MINOR, 
ALEXANDER GORDON, 
WILLIAM. A. GORDON, 
JOHN PURVIS. 



WooDBUKY, July 10th, 1865. 

Gentlemen. 

It affords me pleasure to answer your note requesting, for pubhcation, a 
copy of the address delivered at the Noi'th Church on the Fourth of July, by placing 
the manuscript at your disposal. Some parts not previously reduced to writing I 
have endeavored to set down as spoken, but may not have succeeded in retaining 
the exact language. 

Thanking yousincerily. Gentlemen, for the complimentary expressions contained 
in your communication, I remain, 

Rev. John Churchill, ) Very truly, 

Ror't Pfck and others. C ^^^^ obedient servant, 

KOB r i-ECK ana otneis. i NATHANIEL SMITH. 



^ 



ORATION. 



Above Washington, the Potomac is a rapid stream, hurrying with 
restless energy through a rocky channel overhung with precipices. Its 
•«ager waters impatient of restraint, whirl and leap, with froth and spray, 
past buttress and boulder. There is flash and glitter on the rushing sur- 
face, but nowhere does it reflect other than distorted images of the clear 
blue heavens above. , 

At length, just where first there opens to it an unobstructed view of 
the Statue of Liberty surmounting the dome of the Capitol, its turbulence 
subsides — henceforth, the flood moves broad and smooth between banks 
of almost tropical luxuriance. From that moment when it grows calm 
beneath the overshadowing presence of Freedom, it steadily bears on 
its silvery bosom, the reflected glory of the skies, till from between ever 
receding shores it passes out, into the broad ocean. 

May not this, our great historic River, serve as an emblem of our na- 
tional career 1 Restless, feverish,eager and confused it has been hitherto, 
showing here and there only, transient gleams of heavenly faith, gentle- 
ness and peace. Will not the era when Liberty for all, was first raised 
to the summit of the edifice of our laws, prove the commencement of a 
more expansive national life, of a calmer, steadier progress, capable of 
reflecting the likeness of a higher moral sphere ? 

There is much in the retrospect and prospect from the National An- 
iversary, to persuade us that this analogy may not be altogether fanciful. 
•Suddenly emerging from the midst of long turmoil, the din of past con- 
flict still ringing in our ears, the Nation stands to day undivided and at 
peace. Every where, men's minds, by the unwonted absence of disturb- 
ance in council, or battle in the field, turned from action to reflection, are 
led to question the signs of the tiaies, whether they be not now auspi 
■cious of an opening career of national, intelectual, and moral progress. 

Love of truth compells the admission, indeed, that neither our intel- 
ligence and virtue as a nation, nor the present perfection of our laws, 
can assure us of such a future. No leader has appeared on whose ability 
and patriotism we can implicitly rely, to fathom the tendencies and con- 
trol and guide, beneficently, the impulses, of this proud, scheming, vo- 
ting nation. Some surer foundation for hope is yet needed, than the 
faith experience teaches us to place in fickle, selfish, short-sighted man, 
or a nation of such. The individuals which compose this mighty aggre- 
gate the people, the source of power, are men of prejudice and passion, 
each seeing but a little way, and, for the most part, not profoundly con- 
iscious of the effects of the authority they exercise. 



It was a perfectly justifiable conclusion, on the part of those thought- 
ful men who initiated the late rebellion, that the most obvious consider- 
ations of direct personal interest, rather than devotion to human rights^ 
would control the attitude which a government, springing from such sourc- 
es, would assume towards their movement. 

I say it was a perfectly justifiable conclusion, if any judgement which 
overlooks the active and preponderating influence of an invisible extra- 
human agency, in the affairs of a nation, can be true to the actual, visible 
fact. Because these cool schemers, equal to the estimate and circumven- 
tion of any merely human forces, took no account in their plans of this 
invisible agency, we have seen their imposing edifice go down before our 
eyes, while the exultant nation, rising from out piled-up waters of doubt,, 
fear, distrust and danger, to a clear recognition of a power, behind the 
veil of sight steadily guiding her steps, joins with Miriam and her mai- 
dens by the ancient sea, in the song ; 

" The Lord hath triumphed gloriously, 

' The horse and his rider He hath overthrown." 

Not now can the infidel dare ascribe to chance, the steadfast march of 
events, that, out of seeming confusion, ever compasses beneficent results, 
unsought by men, nor faithless believers fail to recognize a present God. 
To day the nation publicly, officially, owns the Supreme as interposing 
in our aflliirs, and overruling our impulses to bring about his own designs. 
It is reasonable to place a confidence in the accomplishment of his clear- 
ly indicated purposes, such as wise judgment can find no sufficient cause 
for giving to the people or the laws. This truth is now so widely recei- 
ved, 1 have thought the key-note that would resound in the greatest num- 
ber of hearts to day, would be the inquiry — Does the course of events 
indicate that God is now sending us prosperity and peace? 

Peace, of itself, may not be a good. It woke the heaven taught harp of 
David only, when Mercy and Truth met together, Righteousnes and Pea- 
ce, kissed each other. So long as the best results to be obtained were 
systems of Government in which the million toiled in ignorance that the 
few might rule in luxury, continued peace, was retrogression. The policy 
(if 1 may use the expression) of Heaven, was to overturn and overturn, 
and the legion and the squadron marked the progress of mankind in blood 
Nothing less than the patience of the Infinite was required, to educe 
high moral results from the race. After Christ had broken the walls of 
partition between Jew and Gentile, fifteen hundred years were necessary 
to bring about the day when Luther, bursting the bonds of tradition and 
superstition could introduce manly, intelligent, individual faith among 
men, as a permantly and widely communicable thing. It is observable 
that the achievement of that great result was proceeded and accompanied 
by signs of preparation for some further conquests from the realm of 
Evil to succeed it. There was, as it were, a clearing of the world's decks 
for action; a beating to quarters of its slumbering forces. America 
was discovered, the printing press invented, and every where tools for 
use in future discoveries in science began to be prepared. The Baconian 



7^'. ■ 

theory replaced the logic of Aristotle; discussions arose about the author- 
ity of kings, and speculations began to be rife concerning the rights of 
man. The nations seemed to assume an attitude of expectation. 

And well they might, for the revolving years soon ushered in the 
greatest wonder of the ages. In this new world, in a city insignificant 
among the Capitols of the earth, a collection of untitled men, contem- 
plating an appeal to the God of battles, had here been brought, through 
the long ripening deep laid plans of Providence, to such a position, to 
such ideas of government, that, in spite of all temptings of personal 
power and glory, in opposition to all teachings of the past, and customs 
of mankind up to that moment always omnipotent in the affairs of men, 
they based their appeal on the principle that all men were created free 
and equal, solemnly devoting their lives, their fortunes and their honor 
to its maintenance. 

The day that witness the signature of that document as the solemn 
declaration of a people to the nations, ivad as the principle which they 
there, before all the world, invoked the Ruler of the universe to sanc- 
tion by victory, ushered in the first sublime scene in the culmination of 
the ages. Whether viewed as the deliberate act of men, by nature, es- 
teeming their very lives as not too dear to stake against personal power 
and glory, or as the first foot-hold among the nations won by the spirit 
of Eternal love, it is equally to remain a source of astonishment and 
gratitued, so long as men bend thoughtful brows over the words of 
humanity. 

It was a principle new in government, stranger than ever Chaldee 
Seer dreamed he beheld prefigured by the stars, mystically tracing on 
the vault of Heaven, the fate of nations. It was a life-giving elixir, 
such as no enraptured alchemist had seen distil from his charmed alem- 
bic. It made possible the giving of Heavenly gifts to men. Hitherto, 
every advancement in science and mechanic arts, had been liable to be- 
come but an addition to the luxury of the aristocrat, instead of an aid 
to the advancement in happiness of the laboring man, — to become the 
means of riveting, rather than breaking the chain by which the Athe- 
nian bound the Helot to his chariot. 

But has the thought never struck you, that the Manger-cradled, the 
Carpenter's son, must have longed to put into the hands of "his. 
mother and brethren," the humble that follow him, something better' 
than the distaff and the loom '? — must have longed to make it possible^ 
for the separated poor to see each other, without footsore journeyings; 
such as had wearied him on those dusty roads of Galilee 1 — must have 
longed to bring intelligence and refinement, education and harmless lux- 
ury to the doors of those he calls not servants, but frieiids 1 

How sternly was all this denied, so long as Roman lord, or Gothic 
conquerors, or Feudal prince, might by such means be confirmed in 
their usui'pations over the many. How like falling snow-flakes, gen- 
tle and noiseless, and undistinguishable for very numbers, have labor- 
saving gifts been showered on this land, since first the established rulft 



that all are free and equal, made them accessible here to rich and poor 
n!^^w ^^ laboratories, the observatories, the scientific schools of the 
Uld World, we now see, had been but winnowers of the seed, that was 
to be sown and harvested, in this land of free labor and free thoughts 
Are there not traces of the Galilean in this? ' 

I know that historical writers are wont to attribute less to Him, than 
to the patriotism the unselfishness, the patient, persistent courage of our 
own ancestors, the adoption of that Declaration, its maintenance by 
arms, and the subsequent embodiment of its principles in our laws 

It is true our ancestors were patriotic. But what made them so? Thev 
were unselfish. But what made them so ? They were patient, persis- 
tent, courageous. But what made them so ? These traits of character 
are efl^ects due to potent causes. What made them unselfish, pat- 
riotic, patient, persistent, courageous? The time is comin- —has 
comie, when something more definite than mere vague ascriptions of 
suchchai-acteristics, will be required of writers who would escape the 
charge of Atheism, or incompetency. The truth is, throughout the 
land, there were multitudes, who by that living, individual fiiUh, which 
with Luther became a common instead of an isolated thing, were made 
recipients of heavenly influences, and through them God touched the 
springs of public action. The Declaration of Independence was God's 
work through our Fathers as His instruments. This they recognised 
and this we must recognise, if we would interpret rightly subsequent 
events It was a triumph of One, whom sandhedrim, high rn-iest phar- 
isee and governor united in crucifying, over a proud, a selfish, a bi- 
goted and oppresive world. 

Was not the belief that He, who had led our fathers safely through 
temptation and danger to such a result, would look on with indifference 
while It was wrested from their children, the grossest mistake ever 
made by intelligent villains ? Having designed a government of equal 
rights for this land, could He be thwarted in his design ? Does He put 
His hand to the plow and look back ? He, yield to the arch-enemy the 
boon of liberty for the poor, education for the ignorant, free conscience 
;tor all, won in a conflict of eighteen-hundred years? 

_ ThtM-e are white-baired men here present whose memories can fur- 
msh the answer. They can tell, how scarcely was the land at peace, af- 
ter God, by victory had set the seal of His high approval and accepta- 
ti.m, on the nation s appeal, when the course of events began to indi- 
cate that the nation's glory, or shame, was directly dependant on their 
laithfulness, or unfaithfulness, to those principles. First, this day was 
made a means of constantly reminding the people by the customary 
reading ot that document, what were the obligations their fathers as- 
sumed for them. _ Then year by year there was observable in the land, 
on the one hand increasing, accelerating advancements in arts and sci- 
ences, wealth and labor-saving machinery, general education, difi^used in- 
elligence, facilities tor travel and interchange of thought, increase of 
territory and population, until men's minds were positively dazzled with 



9 

the prospect and they half looked to fly like birds, to labor by machin- 
ery, and converse like spirits. 

On the other hand, around that very document began a conflict, that 
more and more filled men's minds with a sense of evil to come. The na- 
tion, shrinking from the courageous application of those principles to its af- 
fairs, grew anxious, and as it swerved from the true course, more and 
more the land darkened with foreboding. Faces grew solemn, and then 
pale — hearts learned to beat soberly and at last to faint with a sense of 
doom. Never, since the shadow of Heaven's wrath darkened the pavil- 
ions, where Egypt's Magicians muttered their spells in vain, has a peo- 
ple known such gloom as you, when all your political charmers, charm- 
ed they never so wisely, could not dispel it. 

He, who of old was wont to proclaim — " They that have ears to 
hear, let them hear" — was re-iterating to a nation deaf and blind — "Be- 
hold the covenant your fathers made With me ! It is, and shall forever 
be the law of your land. Proclaim it to an oppressed world, inscribe it 
willingly on all your banners, on all your capitols, on every river and 
every mountain over all your land, and in the hands that write shall be 
pens of gold and sunbeams for ink* till the world shall be blinded by 
the light of your glory. Refuse, and 1 will write it in your blood ! " 

Can any man here to-day stand up and declare that he heeded as he 
should, either the promise or the warning? We were all self-gloiifiers 
over successes that were but promises of recompense for our fiiithful- 
ness. We thought to stay the storm of threatened wrath, by sending 
men to fasten, here and there, a shingle on our crazy roof. In the 
light of these terrible years, in the salemn presence of a million dead, 
can any man, or class of men; can any party or organization, claim to 
assert, "we have been w^holly faithful to the great principles, whose 
maintainance was to be our glory, whose neglect involved our doom ?" 
No! Faithless all ! All unworthy, let us acknowledge how just it 
was, that promise ceased and retribution came. 

There was a day, when white winged spirits of peace, with solemn 
faces, spread reluctant wings, recalled by the voice that bade messen- 
gers of woe proclaim to ourhmd, the Dies Irae^ the day of wrath. The 
clouds so long rising threateningly, their vast summits blazing in the 
upper skies, their gloomy bases sweeping along the hills, suddenly cov- 
ered the whole heavens with a pall of night. Then, with cannon crash, 
hiss of shell and roar of shot, the cloud was rent, revealing in the lurid 
light of conflagration the stern figure TREASON, gigantic and appall- 
ing, full-armed, the red gauntlet of battle at his feet. 

Undaunted, the nation met the challerge, snatched with fierce haste 
from her historic arsenal, her spear of might, and hurled it with angry, 
deadly force — then, paused : checked, not by fear, but by astonishment, 
to see the flashing weapon, rebounding from his adamantine shield, fall 
harmless at her feet. Gathering superior energy from repulse, and ri 
sing with calm, collected might, to a conflict whose vastness had stirred 
*Words worth. 



10 

the solemn lips of prophecy 3,000 years ago, she sent forth her splendid' 
legions, deliberately, skillfully, to give the death-stroke to her enemy — 
then saw their baffled remnants shattered with shot and shell, wasted 
with pestilence, and weary unto death, march bleeding back. Unyield- 
ing still, for being of heroic blood and nurture, she could not bend her 
neck to sue, — but, sobbing — for in all her loved borders, there was a- 
sound of lamentation, mothers mourning for their children and refusing 
to be comforted because they were not, again she paused. In that 
time of agony, those whose observation was not superficial, could dis- 
cern the fires of prayer, multiplying on public and household altars, un- 
til the darkness as of the Death Angel's wing at length sparkled with, 
them, all over the land, thicker than the skies with stars. The humbled 
nation, willing to retrace its steps, sought the guidance of its Ancient 
Deliverer. Soon there was a murmur among the people — " Is it the 
Morning Star, or a meteor? — Does it herald the dawn, or is it a 
baleful light, boding disaster?" For the generation of to-day, though 
children of the Revolution, had so forgotten the tradition of their Fa- 
thers, that they were slow to recognize in the Proclamation of Liberty 
to the feeble, Freedom to the despised, the light that marked it as the 
answering messenger from Heaven. 
"It is powerless, it can do no good," said some. "It will exasperate and 
strengthen our enemies, said others." Many excused it as a measure 
necessary because of war, though contrary to our established principles 
in peace. But looking back to-day, can we not discern the deviating 
channel of our course, emerging just there, into full view of the long 
forgotten liberty our Fathers struck for in the Revolution ? 

Recall, O glad Americans ! how, immediately, from the roaring tur- 
bulence, the confused whirling of the tide, there issued steady streams 
ol strength, the roll of advancing drums, and trumpets pealing victo- 
ry ! Louder grew, and more harmonious, the swelling peans, broader 
and smoother the flowing river, till, the last obstruction passed, its wa- 
ters are at rest. And from the events of the last four years, terrible 
beyond precedent, no less than from the mingled promise and warning 
of the preceding ago, we derive clearly the conviction, that by Divine 
purpose, in this land there shall be liberty for all, and with liberty, 
prosperity and peace, unlimited, perjyetualf 

Rejoice ! Soldiers of the Uuion, weary and foot sore, for your work 
is done! Hang the musket over the chimney-piece, return the bayonet 
to the scabbard and sit down to rest ! Linger on your pillow to slum- 
ber, for not the day-break-reveilee from snarling trumpets wakes you 
to arms ; but the crowing cock chanting the matin song of Home! For- 
get at night to await the roll-call, when sonorous bugles blow the musi- 
cal tattoo. Liberty marked you "present for duty" on her battle fields, 
and over the rest of the Report book wrote, "absent with leave-" 
Though you have lost legs, we will take steps to replace them. Though 
you lack arms, wo will help you from a "Right Shoulder shift," to a 
"support." 

Nor imagine that color excludes any from our gratitude. Side hy 



11 

side with our own race, you, colored soldiers have shared the danger 
and shall equally receive the glory. In the future there wnll be but one 
question to test the- highest manhood, the most exalted patriotism. 
Has he marched with Sherman, charged with Sheridan, fought with 
Grant? And when the answer comes solemn with death, and thrilling 
with victory " He has " — yesterday's voices of disparagement shall 
be drowned in the world's acclamation — " This is a MAN ! " I hear, 
from no distant day, silver voices that sing you the welcomes of heroes, 
and see fair hands holding forth laurels for your brows ! 

To you who survive, we can at last make known our gratitude. But 
the occasion recalls a company* — once your comrades, now beyond the 
reach of our affections or solicitude, 

" How peaceful smiled that Sabbath sun. 
How holy was the day begun. 
When here, amid the dark wood5 dim " 
the rattling drum mingling with the tolling bell, called together our 
.soldiers to begin their march. 

Recall citizens, you who witnessed it, the scene, when they stood in 
line to answer to their names — recall their faces and their attitude, hold 
fast the impression, let it never fade from your memories, for it was 
that rarest of earthly sights, men in earnest simplicity devoting their 
lives to liberty. Among heroes and warriors who sleep in ancient fame, 
are none who have done more than this ! 

Who can repeat their now sacred names unmoved, or who can offer a 
tribute worthy of their sacrifice ! To others more courageous I leave 
a task to which my powers are not more inadequate, than my feelings 
•are unequal. The opportunity to speak of Polly, Orton, Whitlock, 
Briggs, Hard, and their associates, was the great inducement which 
brought me here to-day. But as I mention their names, so many recol- 
lections made sad by the death of those I admire as I do no man living, 
rush back upon me, that I cannot speak. Only this I venture to say — 
could these return and address you, first upon their lips, and last 
among their injunctions to us would be — " Remember, by all the glory 
of our Union restored and Peace made perpetual — by all thejoy of vic- 
tory and horror of defeat — by all your love for your nearest and de- 
pendant ones — by our homeless deaths and solemn graves — and by the 
Judgment hour where we shall meet you — we charge you. Remember I 
■our mothers, our children and our wives!'' 

It is difficult for one who has seen for two years their earnest conse- 
cration to all soldierly duty, their fond devotion to their regimental 
nam.e, to conceive of those who have fallen with arms in their hands, as 
on this day insensible to the customs of war. Rather would imagina- 
ation picture them as mustering on some plain — alas ! a full bat- 
talion — and not without their complement of familiar officers — to move 
in unison with a vast and silent host, through the evolutions of the 
grand review. There a shadow will be present to scan their columns, 
*Co. I, 19th Conn. Vol's, afterwards 2d Conn. H. A. 



12 

before whom the sternest warrior will be proud to lower his sword, and 
all their banners give the triple droop ! And I think of them as not un- 
conscious of a warrior's pride when they behold leaders, long known to 
historic fame, ranking below their loved Commander in Chief! For in 
that assemblage, partizanship and prejudice give place to truth. It is 
we, who are blinded and deceived. A little thing suflices to hide the 
grandest o'jects from our sight. Like the traveler in the valleys of 
Switzerland, we see much of near cottages and open fields, and eminen- 
ces that rise from the side of our pathway — though insignificant — be- 
cause of our low stand-point, contend for our admiratictn against remo- 
ter mountains, whose summits command a nation's boundaries. 

Looked back upon from the coming ages our generation will present 
a spectacle such as the Alps afford, viewed from the Right at sunset. 
There, the traveller sees the day quit the humble valleys while the crags 
o^ Jura, are bathed in light like molten gold. Slowly the shadows creep 
up the mountain sides, and the sunbeams cluster around a thousand 
pinnacles in a blaze of glory. Yet one after another the summits lose 
their splendor. The Eiger and the Weiierhorn, lapse into solemn dark- 
ness. Fainter and fainter grows the radiance on the icy heights of Si. 
Oothard. The Finsteraarhorn — becomes pale and cold beneath the stars, 
Rose-tints fade softly from the pinnacles of the Jung-frau, and her stain- 
less snows are white in the chaste light of the moon, while clouds 
and the night have settled down upon the valleys below. But towering 
in lonely sublimity past night and cloud into the very blue of Heaven, 
lo ! the stupendous summit of Mt. Blance blazes still in the light of de- 
parted day. 

Like night vipon the mountains, will oblivion cover us, the humble and 
the many. Greater spirits catching for a season, the light of history, 
will fide from remembrance. The loftiest contemporaneous fjxme shall 
grow faint and cold, while the name of — LINCOLN — standing sublime, 
above all shadow is still radient in the glory of immortality. 



■ TBPORY OF CONGRESS 

iHi 

011 460 loiL^ 



! 



